Paleontology News

Paleontologists Find Lost Ice Age World in Flooded Texas Cave

An artist’s interpretation of mammals that lived during the Ice Age: fossils from similar species of an armadillo-like pampathere (bottom left) and giant ground sloth (background) were among those found in a Texas water cave. Image credit: Jaime Chirinos.
May 13, 2026 by News Staff

Fossils of a giant tortoise, a ground sloth, a lion-sized armadillo relative called pampathere, scimitar-toothed cats, horses, camels and mastodons found in Bender’s Cave on the Edwards Plateau of Texas may reveal a previously unknown warm period in the region roughly 100,000 years ago. An artist’s interpretation of mammals that lived during the Ice Age: fossils from similar species of an armadillo-like pampathere (bottom left) and giant ground...

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Chen et al. constructed a comprehensive genomic dataset of 470 flowering plant species and dated 132 ancient whole-genome duplication (WGD) events that are non-randomly distributed, revealing a clustering around pivotal periods of environmental upheaval and extinction. Image credit: Chen et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.04.008.

Duplicated Genomes Helped Flowering Plants Survive End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction

May 12, 2026 by News Staff

A new analysis of 470 flowering plant species finds that whole-genome duplication surged precisely during Earth’s violent environmental crises, suggesting...

Reconstruction of Bicharracosaurus dionidei. Image credit: Felipe Cutro-Lev.

New Species of Giant Long-Necked Dinosaur Identified in Argentina

May 11, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Fossils unearthed on a remote Argentine ranch belong to a new genus and species of macronarian sauropod dinosaur, according to an international team of...

An artist’s reconstruction of adult Maiasaura and young. Image credit: Brian Regal.

Dinosaurs May Have Fed Their Young a Special Diet, Study Suggests

May 11, 2026 by News Staff

An analysis of wear on the fossilized teeth of the hadrosaurian dinosaur Maiasaura peeblesorum indicates their juveniles may have eaten softer, more nutritious...

Reconstruction of Archaeopteryx in its habitat. Image credit: Field Museum / NICE PaleoVisLab Studio / Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

Paleontologists Reconstruct Ecology of Archaeopteryx

May 8, 2026 by Natali Anderson

A comprehensive new review by Field Museum of Natural History paleontologists draws together the latest fossil evidence — including analysis of five...

Reconstruction of Phascolarctos sulcomaxilliaris. Image credit: Nellie Pease.

New Species of Fossil Koala Found in Museum Drawer

May 6, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Long-overlooked fossils in the Western Australian Museum collection have been identified as a new species of koala. Named Phascolarctos sulcomaxilliaris,...

Visualization of a small tyrannosaur feeding on a carcass of a larger tyrannosaur. Image credit: Yu Xin, Shen Li & Liang Junwei, Aarhus Universitet.

Ancient Bite Marks Suggest Tyrannosaurs Were Not Just Hunters

May 6, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by Aarhus University paleontologists overturns the image of tyrannosaurs as pure apex predators. An analysis of 16 precisely mapped bite...

Life reconstruction of Mosura fentoni. Image credit: Danielle Dufault, Royal Ontario Museum.

Rethinking the Cambrian Explosion: Before Shells and Limbs, There Was the Brain

May 6, 2026 by News Staff

A new hypothesis proposes that the Cambrian Explosion — the sudden burst of animal diversity 500 million years ago — was not driven by shells...

Early Earth. Image credit: Peter Sawyer / Smithsonian Institution.

Earliest Organisms on Earth Built Their Biochemistry around Molybdenum, Study Suggests

May 5, 2026 by Natali Anderson

New research reveals that 3.4 billion years ago (Archean Eon), ancient microbes relied on molybdenum — a metal that was vanishingly rare at the time...

An artist’s impression of Xiangyunloong fengming. Image credit: Connor Ashbridge / CC BY 4.0.

Early Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Unearthed in China

May 4, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of massopodan sauropodomorph that lived during the Early Jurassic epoch has been identified from a partial skeleton unearthed in...

Life reconstruction drawing of Jinjuichnus procerus and tetrapod trackmakers. The neoazhdarchian trackmaker is following the small vertebrate. Image credit: Jun Seung Yi.

106-Million-Year-Old Pterosaur Footprints Discovered in Korea

May 1, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A set of neoazhdarchian pterosaur footprints discovered in South Korea is offering a rare glimpse into how some of the largest flying reptiles may have...

An illustration of Cimolodon desosai on the tree with a fruit in its mouth. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Omnivorous, Rodent-Like Mammal Lived in Dinosaurs’ Shadow on Pacific Coast

Apr 29, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have descibed a new species of the multituberculate mammal genus Cimolodon based on a fossil found in Baja California, Mexico. An illustration...

An artist’s reconstruction of Phosphatotitan khouribgaensis. Image credit: Connor Ashbridge.

Small Titanosaur Species from Morocco Reveals Surprising South American Ties

Apr 28, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur related to South American forms has been described by a team of paleontologist led by University...

An artist’s impression of fossil platypus and environs circa 25 million years ago. Image credit: Gen Conway, Flinders University Palaeontology Lab.

Early Platypuses Had Strong Teeth and Powerful Jaws, Fossils Show

Apr 28, 2026 by News Staff

New fossils from the Namba Formation of South Australia reveal that 25 million years ago, Obdurodon insignis — a larger, tooth-bearing ancestor of...

Microbial mat chips scattered on a Cambrian tidal flat surface. Image credit: Nora Noffke.

Why Geologists Love Pond Scum

Apr 27, 2026 by Kenneth C. Gass

If you’ve ever wondered how geologists know so much about ancient beaches and shallow oceans — from the paleoenvironment to the animals roaming...

An artist’s impression of an ancient giant octopus. Image credit: Yohei Utsuki, Hokkaido University.

In Cretaceous Oceans, Giant ‘Kraken-Like’ Octopuses May Have Been Top Predators

Apr 27, 2026 by News Staff

Massive, soft-bodied cephalopods up to 19 m (62 feet) long rivaled — and perhaps hunted — the ocean’s fiercest reptiles in the Cretaceous...

An artistic representation of a Late Triassic landscape of southern Brazil depicting individuals of Isodapedon varzealis in the foreground and a proterochampsid in the background. Image credit: Caio Fantini.

New Fossil from Brazil Reveals Unexpected Diversity among Pre-Dinosaur Herbivores

Apr 23, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists in Brazil have identified a new genus and species of hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur — an extinct lineage of beaked, herbivorous reptiles...

Depiction of Paleocanna tentaculum individuals living in single tubes, as well as clusters of two or three tubes attached together. Image credit: Ramirez-Guerrero et al., doi: 10.1017/jpa.2025.10211.

450-Million-Year-Old Fossils Reveal Strange, Tube-Dwelling Jellyfish Relative

Apr 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of soft-bodied, tubicolous polyp medusozoan from well-preserved specimens found about 50 km northeast...

Eosphorosuchus lacrimosa (left) is disturbed by Hesperosuchus agilis (right) near a Coelophysis carcass at what will become modern-day Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, the United States. Image credit: Julio Lacerda.

Museum Fossil Reveals Triassic Crocodile Cousin with Powerful Jaws

Apr 20, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

CT scans of a decades-old specimen from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History show a new species of short-snouted crocodylomorph with unusually strong...

An artistic rendition of Ptychotherates bucculentus. Image credit: Megan Sodano / Virginia Tech.

New Triassic Dinosaur Species Identified in New Mexico

Apr 17, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of carnivorous herrerasaurian dinosaur has been described from an incomplete but well-preserved skull found in northern New Mexico,...

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